| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Kung Fu Panda 4 stayed in the top spot adding £2.8m, which is a drop of just 28% from last weekend, a great hold when you consider last weekend included a bumper Good Friday. That takes its total after 11 days in cinemas to £12.8m and with the schools off all week, we should expect it to surpass the final total of Kung Fu Panda 3 (£14.3m) in the next few days. By this time next week it will probably have surpassed, or be very close to surpassing, the total of Kung Fu Panda 2 (£16.9m). The first Kung Fu Panda’s £20.4m may even be achievable too.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire stayed in second, adding £2m, a drop of 53% from last weekend. That takes its total after 10 days in cinemas to £9.2m and it has now surpassed the final total of the last English-language Godzilla film to open in cinemas, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which finished its run with £7m in 2019.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire stayed in third but added £1.4m, a drop of 36% from last weekend. It had a strong midweek last week and is now up to £12.1m. The previous film in the series, Ghostbusters: Afterlife finished its run with £11.5m so Frozen Empire has already surpassed that and there’s plenty more to come. Along with Dune: Part Two, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, it’s another sequel that is outperforming its previous film.
Dune: Part Two came in fourth adding £1.1m which takes its total to £36.8m. That would place it fifth in the top 10 films of 2023. The first film finished its run with £22.5m, so this sequel has now grossed more than £14m more than the previous film. This is the most impressive uplift for a sequel since Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse last summer, which grossed more than £20m more than Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Dev Patel’s Monkey Man is this week’s highest new entry, opening with £810k, which includes £47k from previews. Monkey Man feels perfect for fans of John Wick, and the first John Wick opened with £540k in 2015, finishing its run with £1.6m. Nobody, starring Bob Odenkirk feels like another good comparative, and that film opened with £575k in 2021, finishing with £1.4m, so Monkey Man has opened more strongly than both of them and they kick-started franchises (with Nobody 2 reportedly coming soon).
Outside of the top five, the prequel to the classic horror film The Omen, The First Omen, opened in sixth with £522k. Just two weeks ago, the similarly themed horror Immaculate also opened with £522k, but that included £31k from previews, so The First Omen just wins that battle. However, it couldn’t come close to the £1.7m The Exorcist: Believer opened with in October.
British comedy Seize Them! failed to capture an audience, opening with £132k in eighth. Another British comedy, Wicked Little Letters, added £117k in ninth and is now over the £9m mark.
Next Weekend
Civil War is the fourth film directed by Alex Garland, after Ex Machina, Annihilation and Men. It’s a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. It’s in IMAX from Tuesday.
Back To Black is a biopic of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is an action thriller from India. With their contrasting personalities and maverick methods, Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan need to overcome their differences and labour together to transport the offenders to impartiality and preserve the day. It’s in cinemas from Wednesday.
Maidaan is inspired by the Indian national football team coach and manager Syed Abdul Rahim, who is regarded as the architect of Indian football. It’s in cinemas from Wednesday.
The Buzz
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is the fourth film in the hugely popular action series. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return as Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. The duo are back with their iconic mix of edge-of-your seat action and outrageous comedy but this time with a twist: Miami's finest are now on the run. The last film in the series, Bad Boys For Life, was a huge hit at the start of 2020 and this sequel, released on 5 June, should be one of the biggest films for 16-34 men this summer, forecast to deliver 7 16-34M TVRs.
Across The Pond
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire held on to the top spot, adding $31.7m for a new total of $135m. Dev Patel’s Monkey Man opened in second with $10.1m and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire fell to third, adding $9m, which takes its total to $88.9m. The First Omen opened in fourth with $8.4m, while Kung Fu Panda 4 rounded out the top five, adding $7.9m for a new total of $166.1m.